Review: Husky Tones, Crofter’s Rights

Most bands quite naturally see an album launch as being all about their new recording and that’s natural because it’s the self-evident purpose of an album launch (well, durrr). But The Husky Tones aren’t like most bands so rather than making the launch of their second self-funded album Who Can I Turn To Now just about themselves they chose to bring to town Benjamin Bassford, who delivered a splendid support slot. Bassford, a resident of the Scarborough Delta, played an immaculate set of country blues: enchanting picking with some robust top string rhythm and stinging solos accompanying his rich, resonate voice. Oh, and he looked sharp as a tack too; suited and booted, bootlace tie topped off with a Peaky Blinders cap but the pièce de résistance was his cummerbund. Truly, only a steely eyed blues man would wear a cummerbund in the People’s Republic of Stoke Croft.

The set leaned heavily on covers but they were delivered in Bassford’s own style so they felt fresh: for instance Robert Johnson’s Hellhound On My Trail was delivered with exquisite cascading guitar runs that turned the song around and belied it’s devilish subject matter. As well as tunes from some of the acknowledged giants of the genre (Howlin’ Wolf & Bo Diddly), there were tunes for the connoisseur to savour too (Blind Willie Johnson & a couple from Charley Patton’s canon); and even cuts from the less well known – a jazzy take on Trouble In Mind by Richard M. Jones. Despite the disparity of the original versions Bassford managed to make them his own with playing that was certainly rooted in the blues but acknowledged the genre’s origin in jazz and gave the set a smooth, foot tapping consistency, whilst swapping from acoustic to resonator brought different textures to the stage.  Alas Ain’t No Backdoor Man was his only original and the quality of that tune matched the covers in the set so hopefully on his return we’ll hear much more of his own work. Concluding with a mash up of Mercenary Song (Steve Earle) & Ride on Josephine (Bo Diddley), Bassford’s final moments were a spine tingling acapella rendition of the latter’s chorus.

Around about fourteen months ago The Husky Tones launched their debut album at this very venue, with a scorching two hour set of blues, and since then things have changed. That LP and the live dates that followed featured the Tones Mark I, a four piece outfit, but the latest waxing is the Tones Mark II: the band now just the core duo of Victoria Bourne on drums & lead vox alongside Chris Harper on guitar & backing vox. The new LP suggested that the amicable change in line up had given the band a new freedom to push their music in a fresh fiery direction, something they’ve been referring to as punk blues but on the evidence of tonight’s show, a blues that is also uncompromisingly heavy – as much Zeppelin as Pistols, and at times melding the allegedly divergent genres into an unholy cacophony of rage. The reason for the rage? Well, the album has been recorded against a backdrop of massive upheaval across this country – Brexit, austerity, the evisceration of our Social Services along with upheaval across the rest of the world – Trump, Syria, the refugee crisis and resurgence of the rightwing. All that and more have informed much of the lyrical content of the album as well as driving the live rendition.

Whilst the performance certainly allowed the band to express their feelings about the state of the world, it wasn’t all wrath & fury – the LP isn’t just a one dimensional rant against the powers that be – and the band delivered a set that was also full of humour: sharing laughs with the crowd and sharing tales about the origins of the songs.  These Hips Were Made for You was given a saucy rendition that swung with innuendo, fuelled by Bourne telling the crowd she was taking her top off for the number inducing Carry On cackles on stage and off. Raw emotion was on display too with set closer Put Your Arms Around Someone You Love, written for Bourne’s mum and introduced with genuine feeling and played with passion and commitment. Along with lively set opener Round the Wreckin’ (translation for non-Black Country folk here), these tunes were judiciously sequenced in to the set leavening the anger to present a fully rounded set of contemporary tunes – contemporary in both subject matter and delivery.

The tunes that rage though, really raged. It wasn’t just the power in the music that came across, the words hit home too Jungle Blues highlighting the plight of refugees right here, right now and the subject matter of The Island of Barbed Wire (describing the internment of Bourne’s grandfather on the Isle of Man during WW1) cleverly linked past misdemeanours with current transgressions against the victims of realpolitik. The encores took crowd and band back to the first album with Time for a Change and I Dare You reimagined to suit the reinvented band, the latter a lengthy jam out that cooled the room down leaving the band grinning at the raucous reaction to a thrilling start to the band’s forthcoming tour.

This was a performance full of passion but there was nothing lacking technically, at no time was technique sacrificed to performance. Harper is a nuanced player, he really know how to crank out a riff and peel off a fret bending solo; he knows when to wail and when to sail. Bourne too gave a bravura performance throughout, pounding the beat out for the heavier tunes and driving the more mellow tunes with a nimble touch and all the while singing with power and precision. The first LP was good and the line-up that recorded it was good too, but this LP and line-up is better – the band have really found their muse in both the state of the world and through their own personal experiences.

Pix by Jess Dixon and Francis Darracot